Monday, July 31, 2006

At the recent Arab Conference of Iraqi Neighbors in Tehran (sounds so innocuous, doesn‘t it?), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad imparted these words of wisdom to his audience: "The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must mobilize to remove this problem. It is a . . . regime that prevented the progress of the region's nations . . ."

It's the kind of talk that absolutely brings the house down at conferences in that part of the world. It's like pushing a button that sends impulses directly to the pleasure centers in the radical Islamic brain. Call it crack cocaine for Koranic crazies.

Actually, given the subject matter of this particular conference, you wouldn't think the main focus of discussion would be the need to eliminate Israel. But you can bet your sweet Koran that if a conference gets hosted in Tehran about anything from sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea to thirteenth century Persian poetry, somebody's going to find an excuse to bring up the Zionist regime.

Very funny, but if you think he is exaggerating, you haven't been following the GoozNews from Iran.

The Iranian media is foaming at the mouth even more than usual in falling over itself to denounce the "Zionist regime." But since it gets so, well, repetitive to hear Ahmadinejad's latest attempts to top himself, they need to find other spokespeople who are willing to demonize Israel.

The funny thing is, all the criticisms completely ignore the post itself. Not one has yet disputed any of my facts. Apparently, just the existence of a pro-Israel post is enough to get certain people in a non-thinking, mantra-spewing mode where all they can think of are the old canards about Israel. Here are a few:

WTF? Why is this even on HuffPo? It's pure poison propaganda. Blogger even admits he's not even in Israel.

This gentleman evidently didn't notice that I wrote that myself on the posting well before he wrote this. Perhaps he didn't actually read my article - yet he feels qualified to criticize it. (The word "poison" was a bonus.)

I remember once about a jointly agreed upon UN resolution 242, and another 338....I wonder if they were enforced .....?????????

Here's someone who has no clue what the text of 242 and 338 are.

This is THE GRAND GUIGNOL OF HYPOCRISY, considering it's coming from a nation holding the world record for violating UN resolutions.

Not to mention a country ILLEGALLY armed with *NUCLEAR WEAPONS*, in defiance of the entire world.Of course the US is even more hypocritical (if that's possible...), because our government provided the Israelis with the know-how to build them, but at the same time invaded a sovereign country for the mere (and totally baseless) suspicion they might have been considering tinkering with nuclear power (which of course they NEVER did. As EVERYBODY knew, including the neocon cabal.)

Again, not addressing a single point I made, but quick to jump on the "Israel and the US are evil" mantra.

I admit that I had to look up what "Grand Guignol" meant, and I was not surprised to see that the reference made no sense. But it sure sounded intellectual!

While each of his "arguments" can be demolished rather easily, is it utterly impossible for Israel-bashers to stick to the topic?

It would have been nice for someone to actually disagree with the points I was making, or perhaps to correct a mistake. It is possible (though not easy) to criticize Israel in a skillful and non-hypocritical manner.

Of all the so-called anti-war and pro-peace groups that exist worldwide, how come none of them have managed to have a rally where they condemn Hezbollah along with Israel? (Peace Now is the possible exception to this.)

I've recently posted about the asymmetry in international law where terrorist organizations have no incentive to follow the law while states do. I also posted on the asymmetry of tactics when one party in a conflict has an interest in seeing its own civilians die. In addition, I posted about the asymmetry of outside parties treating a terrorist organization and a state "evenhandedly."

These are not small advantages in a war. When one party has its hands tied behind its back because of legal and moral constraints while the other is free to do whatever barbaric acts it pleases, it becomes far more difficult for the moral party to truly win.

There are more asymmetries that Hezbollah takes to full advantage:

Hezbollah lies while Israel tells the truth. Since the war began we have seen Hezbollah consistently lie - about its supposed destruction of many Israeli tanks, about how only a tiny number of terrorists have been killed, about how they do not shoot from mosques. We have seen Hezbollah stage demonstrations and ambulance scenes for TV cameras. And there is more and more evidence that the Qana tragedy may have been the result of Hezbollah actions - and maybe even Hezbollah planning. Or at the very least, a carefully choreographed manipulation of facts by Hezbollah.

On the other hand, it takes Israel hours or days to research and disseminate the truth to counter terrorist lies, and by the time they can accurately show the facts, the world has already passed judgment.

There is literally nothing that can be done to fix this, although the world media is complicit in uncritically reporting clearly staged events and statements from people who have a track record of lying. Until the press acts more responsibly we have a clear disadvantage to those who care about the truth.

The definition of victory. While Israel has been rightly criticized over not being clear as to its objectives, Hezbollah merely needs to survive to be able to declare victory. So a core group of Hezbollah fighters who stay in bunkers and who don't even bother to fight can emerge after the war as heroes - which has huge geopolitical implications, pushing the balance of power in the Middle East towards Iran and Syria.

A prizefight where one boxer only has to live to be declared the winner is a difficult fight to win.

Susceptibility to pressure. Israel, as a member of Western civilization, has to worry to some extent about what the world thinks. It has to worry about sanctions and calls for a cease fire and about public opinion, both from without and within.

Hezbollah, on the other hand, has the full support of rogue terror states. Immoral acts do not pressure Hezbollah to moderate - quite the opposite. In the moral universe they inhabit, terror is rewarded and co-existence with Israel is regarded as the biggest evil. The only pressure that may have worked would have been from the Lebanese, but Hezbollah has effectively used its media manipulation and human shields to ensure that they support the terrorists.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Amnesty International, pretending to be even-handed as always, suggests writing letters to all the main parties involved in the Lebanon conflict as a means to pressure them to avoid civilian casualties.

Dear Sir,
I am writing to express my concern about the killing of civilians in both Lebanon and Israel. In the week since 12 July, more than 300 Lebanese civilians, including dozens of children have been killed by the Israeli air strikes against Lebanon and hundreds more have been injured. Amnesty International condemns unreservedly the massive attacks carried out by the Israeli military against civilians and civilian infrastructure throughout Lebanon, and is calling on Israel to immediately cease such attacks and to respect international humanitarian law.
We are also concerned about Hizbullah attacks against Israeli civilians, some 15 of whom have been killed by rockets launched by Hizbullah. Such attacks have also caused substantial damage to homes and other civilian property.
I urge you to ensure that Hizbullah’s armed wing put an immediate end to the targeting of Israeli civilians, notably the launch of rockets into Israeli towns and villages and that Hizbullah fighters do not initiate armed attacks from residential civilian areas and avoid locating military objectives within civilian areas. I also call on you not to harm the two Israeli soldiers whom Hizbullah captured and to grant them access to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Sincerely,

The letter to Olmert is a bit longer, adding bits about "proportionality" and helpfully adding

Such attacks are a blatant breach of international humanitarian law and some amount to war crimes.

There is an interesting bias that AI shows by not mentioning war crimes or international law to the Hezbollah chief.

But the more idiotic part is that AI knows very well that Nasrallah doesn't care in the least about what some Westerners are mailing him. It would be far more useful to send messages to Santa Claus asking for a cessation of hostilities.

The Necessity for the Destruction of Israel
We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world. It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve. This enemy is the greatest danger to our future generations and to the destiny of our lands, particularly as it glorifies the ideas of settlement and expansion, initiated in Palestine, and yearning outward to the extension of the Great Israel, from the Euphrates to the Nile.
Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.
We vigorously condemn all plans for negotiation with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies, for the reason that such negotiation is nothing but the recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine. Therefore we oppose and reject the Camp David Agreements, the proposals of King Fahd, the Fez and Reagan plan, Brezhnev's and the French-Egyptian proposals, and all other programs that include the recognition (even the implied recognition) of the Zionist entity.

We will work on the strong and efficient continuation of the Resistance until our occupied land is completely liberated and restored to the national sovereignty, until our people in the occupied strip are released and able to secure a free honorable decent living away from any direct or indirect presence of the usurping Zionists. We will also work on confronting the logic of the theatrical negotiations that seek to establish Israel's position at the expense of the people of the land.

So Hezbollah rockets towards Israeli civilians is a direct part of who Hezbollah is. It is the major reason they built up their arsenal to begin with! The targets from the beginning were meant to be civilians, and the Hezbollah defenses from the beginning were meant to be civilians. (See this amazing letter.)

Writing a letter to Nasrallah asking him to stop rocket fire is like asking him to disband his organization - it is absurd.

Hezbollah's goal is to take away the human rights from a specific group of people.

The very idea of treating Hezbollah and the State of Israel identically in Amnesty's actions is not evenhandedness - it is effectively one-sided because of the nature of each entity. One side is susceptible to pressure and the other one isn't. One side respects human rights and the other side doesn't. One side tries to minimize human pain and the other side seeks to maximize it. To treat them the same is to confer legitimacy on an inherently immoral and illegitimate group of thugs.

The Qana building collapsed eight hours after Israel hit it. Everyone is being careful not to jump to conclusions, but it is very strange. Either way, the US says that Israel has agreed to suspend airstrikes for 48 hours.

An Australian newspaper has pictures of Hezbollah terrorists dressed in civilian clothes with their weapons in a suburban neighborhood.

Israel has videos of rockets being fired from Qana, from behind residential buildings, and near homes.

This morning's events in Qana underscore the basic asymmetry of fighting an utterly immoral organization and the major advantage Hezbollah has in this war.

As I mentioned before, the fact that international law does not fully address a situation such as this gives the terrorists a gift. Human Rights Watch pretty much says so, in an article about Afghanistan that mixes international law and their restrictive interpretations of that law:

Q: What are the legal constraints on methods of attack?

A corollary to the principle of civilian immunity is the basic prohibition of indiscriminate attacks. An attack is "indiscriminate" when its effect is not or cannot be limited to military targets and so it harms military targets and civilians or civilian objects without distinction. Typical examples would be the carpet-bombing of populous areas where military targets are interspersed, or the laying of anti-personnel landmines, which cannot distinguish between civilian or military feet. Indiscriminate attacks also include those which, as noted above, may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, or damage to civilian objects which would be excessive in relation to the "concrete and direct military advantage" anticipated from the attack. Human Rights Watch considers that the evaluation of whether an attack may cause excessive harm to civilians must be conducted for each attack and potential target, and not with regard to the conflict as a whole.

The law requires precautions and choices where civilians are at risk from attacks. The duty to take all feasible steps to minimize injury to civilians and civilian objects requires commanders to choose the means of attack that will minimize incidental harm to civilians. Where a party to the conflict has precision weapons at its disposal, it is under a duty to use "smart" rather than "dumb" bombs in or near populated areas. Likewise, where various military targets offer a similar military advantage, commanders must choose the target that threatens the least danger to civilian lives and civilian objects. Each party to the conflict also has the duty to provide "effective advance warning" of attacks that may affect the civilian population, "unless circumstances do not permit," such as where the element of surprise is critical to the success of the attack. So, for example, if a bridge or major highway is useful to the military as well as civilians, the opposing military is obliged to determine whether there are alternative targets whose destruction offers a similar advantage but less risk to civilians, or whether warnings are feasible before bombing, or whether there is a time of day for attack that would minimize potential harm to civilians. Finally, where an attack would be indiscriminate, or the target questionable, the attack must be cancelled or suspended.

Q: What about the use of civilians as "shields" for military targets?

Parties to the conflict are required to take precautions against the effect of attacks on civilians to the maximum extent feasible. Among these precautions are removing the civilian population from the vicinity of military objectives and avoiding locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas.

Should one party violate this rule by using the presence of civilians to shield military targets, the opposing force is not excused, in calculating the legality of an attack, from taking the risk to civilians into account. That is, it is still necessary to weigh the concrete and direct military advantage of any attack against the prospective harm to civilians.

We see from here a some pertinent facts:

International law, at least HRW's interpretation thereof, confers a great advantage on a party that cynically and maliciously places civilians into harm's way.

Israel's actions are still within international law, in the sense that they have warned residents for weeks to leave the area and did everything humanly possible to avoid civilian casualties while still attempting to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets directly at Israeli civilians.

While on paper both Israel and Hezbollah are responsible for avoiding civilian deaths, in reality only Israel suffers repercussions for those deaths.

Hezbollah has learned a very important lesson from the Palestinian Arabs in the territories - the military and propaganda advantage of dead civilians on the Arab side is enormous. The one side that gains the most from Arab deaths is the Arab side. Israel has no incentive to kill civilians - it has great disincentive to do so - but Hezbollah and Hamas want to show dead Arab kids on TV and the Internet.

The visceral disgust in the West at seeing dead civilians makes Qana a perfect storm for Hezbollah. While no one in the Arab world mourns Western civilian deaths (in fact, they often celebrate them), well-meaning dupes in the West will naturally react with compassion and anger at seeing dead innocents - and the kneejerk reaction is not to blame those that put them in harm's way deliberately, but the ones who killed them accientally.

Another related factor that works in Hezbollah's favor is the famous double standard by the West towards Israel. While Israel is expected to do everything possible to wage an oxymoron of a humanitarian war, there are no such parallel expectations from Arabs. The enlightened, Western world assumes that Arabs are crazy anyway and therefore the world doesn't hold the Arab world accountable for its immorality. The word "responsibility" only applies to one side. Arabs bombing children are just a "dog bites man" story, and the overwhelming pressure is always, inevitably towards the side of the conflict that actually exhibits morality.

So there we have it. A combination of Arab cynicism and Western compassion combine to place the one side of the conflict that has moral and even legal justification for what it is doing at a great disadvantage compared to the cold-blooded murderers and terrorists.

According to the international community, the Israel has no defense against a Hezbollah that fires rockets at Israeli civilians and runs into apartment buildings immediately afterwards. Israel is expected to accept the losses indefinitely rather than risk the lives of the civlians that Hezbollah is using.

Ultimately, such misplaced compassion will end up resulting in more 9/11s, more Madrids, more Balis as the perceived Hezbollah victory emboldens terrorists worldwide to accelerate their war against the West.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

There is a marked contrast between the condemnation of the Seattle terrorist done by the local Seattle Muslim community and the "condemnation" done by the national CAIR, front for Hamas.

Here's the Seattle condemnation:

The Muslim community of the Greater Seattle area watched in horror as news broke of a shooting at the Jewish Federation building. While many of the details of this shooting remain to be determined, what is clear is that a senseless and ruthless act of violence has taken place and resulted in the loss of at least one life.

We categorically condemn this and any similar acts of violence. We pray for the safety and health of those injured and offer our heartfelt condolences to the family of the victims of this attack. We also hope that the perpetrator of this crime is brought to justice.

There is no room for such acts of violence in our city and community. When one of us is attacked, none of us are safe. We refuse to see the violence in the Middle East spill over to our cities and neighborhoods.

We reject and categorically condemn any attacks against the Jewish community and stand in solidarity with the Jewish Federation in this tragedy.

It is unequivocal, it has no wiggle room, no big BUTs, and seems heartfelt. (The only nit to pick was not admitting that the shooter was Muslim with the "While many of the details of this shooting remain to be determined" phrase. But that is pretty minor because the statement itself is very strong in support of the victims.)

Now, look at what the national CAIR said:

We condemn this senseless attack on a religious institution and offer sincere condolences to the loved ones of those killed or injured. The American Muslim and Jewish communities must do whatever is within their power to prevent the current conflict in the Middle East from being transplanted to this country. We also urge local, state and national law enforcement authorities to step up security measures at synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions of both faiths.

As they have done countless times, CAIR takes an action done by Muslims and tries to spin it into a situation where Muslims are the victims. It tries to take advantage of the situation to score political points.

Most abhorrently, it implies that the Jewish community in America is threatening the Muslim community in America, to the extent that they need "security" protection.

A demonstrator with an Israeli flag holds a sign reading 'I am a terrorist' during a protest to call on Israel to stop its military strikes against Palestinian people and Lebanon, on Friday, July 28, 2006, in downtown Vienna.

He's probably not a real terrorist, just a terror-supporter. But a man can have dreams, can't he?

Reminds me of an old joke:

A Jew accidentally bumped into an anti-semite while crossing the street."Asshole!" said the anti-semite."Goldberg," bowed the Jew.

By the way, notice how the AP characterizes Israel's defensive actions - not as strikes against Palestinian Arab terrorists and Hezbollah, but against "Palestinian people and Lebanon." No bias there at all!

A senior leader in Fatah, Ziyad Abu ‘Ein, the Palestinian terrorist group lead by Palestinian Authority (PA) president, Mahmoud Abbas, has admitted that the Oslo peace process provided the Palestinians with the means to launch what he termed a “great Palestinian intifadah,” the campaign of suicide bombing and terrorism against Israeli civilians since September 2000 that has claimed the lives of almost 2000 Israelis and wounded and maimed over 10,000 more.

Abu ‘Ein made this statement in an interview on Al-Alam TV earlier this month, stating that, although the Oslo accords had not been the “liberation of Palestine” [ i.e., the destruction of Israel] that the Palestinians sought, “there would have been no resistance in Palestine if not for Oslo. It was Oslo that strongly embraced the Palestinian resistance … If not for Oslo, there would have been no resistance. Throughout the occupied territories, we could not move a single pistol from one place to another. If not for Oslo, the weapons we got through Oslo, and if not for the “A” areas of the Palestinian Authority, if not for the training, the camps, the protection provided by Oslo, and if not for the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners through Oslo -- this Palestinian resistance could not have carried out this great Palestinian Intifada, with which we confronted the Israeli occupation” (Al-Alam TV, July 4, translation courtesy of Middle East Media Review Institute (MEMRI), July 27).

To these people, the words "dialogue," "peace" and "truce" are just code-words for "strategies to destroy Israel ."

This morning we reached our goal of matching $1000 in contributions towards various Israeli charities. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

I'm keeping it going for now, so I will still match anything given at least through the beginning of Shabbos. I am speaking with others who are interested in continuing this challenge; it would be nice to coordinate a larger project with multiple matchers but I'm not a very good organizer and this was mostly on the honor system anyway. If anyone wants to pledge their own matching contributions, let me know at the elderchallenge-at-gmail.com address and I will, IY"H, try to find the time to increase the scope.

Another idea is if anyone wants to donate gifts (like T-shirts or other tchatchkes) for people who contribute a minimum amount.

But for now, let's see how high we can go today! Thanks again to my readers - you rock!

There is a fair amount of literature concerning violations and grave breaches of international law, mostly centered on various Geneva Conventions. For example:

Article 85.-Repression of breaches of this Protocol

3. In addition to the grave breaches defined in Article 11, the following acts shall be regarded as grave breaches of this Protocol, when committed wilfully, in violation of the relevant provisions of this Protocol, and causing death or serious injury to body or health:

(a) Making the civilian population or individual civilians the object of attack;

(b) Launching an indiscriminate attack affecting the civilian population or civilian objects in the knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects, as defined in Article 57, paragraph 2 (a) (iii);

International law also addresses how those involved in a conflict should treat prisoners from enemies who do not subscribe to Geneva and some other peripheral issues.

And it addresses how war crimes are determined and tried in an international court.

But, as far as I can tell, international law does not address the possibility of one party of a conflict that continuously and explicitly ignores all the norms of war - one that uses its civilians as human shields, one that specifically and deliberately targets civilians, one that would use illegal means such as chemical weapons if it had the means.

In other words, if a state is fighting against a rogue terrorist entity that does not accept Geneva and in fact flouts it, the state still is bound by its own acceptance of Geneva. So terrorists have an automatic advantage in methods and tactics against any signatory of international law conventions.

On the face of it, it seems ridiculous. The purpose of international law of war is to place restrictions on warfare for everyone's benefit, for humanitarian and practical reasons. But if one party has a tactic that violates international law, it would seem reasonable that the war should be fought according to the rules that the violator themselves made. If the violator uses poison gas, for example, they can no longer expect to be protected from being attacked by poison gas.

This does not mean that the state has a right to do anything immoral, and there should be rules restricting what a state can do in this case. But from what I see, interntional law has failed miserably in this regard in the current Lebanon/northern Israel conflict. The idea of an eventual war-crimes trial for Nasrallah being a disincentive for him to continue to endanger Lebanese civlians and target Israeli civilians is laughable.

International law is giving terrorists a great tactical advantage and it needs to address this issue adequately.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

The people who follow these things are buzzing about the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor that was introduced today.

Intel had been falling behind rival AMD over the past couple of years, both in processor speed and in power consumption. The only bright spot was the Pentium M, which was designed in Intel's Haifa labs.

Intel never explicitly trumpets Israel as the source of its innovations, but a small acknowledgment comes from the name of the laptop version of this chip: Merom, named after a lake in Israel during Biblical times.

Three months ago I posted about how the Jewish hydroponic farmers expelled from Gaza took only six months to re-create their industry and turn a profit again. I wrote then:

Yes, Jews were forcibly kicked out of their homes, 16 years of their work and livelihoods destroyed, and six months later they are completely back up to speed - without the EU or the UN giving them a dime, without whining constantly to the world about how bad their lot is, without insisting on handouts and resolutions.

How many decades will it take Arabs to learn the same lesson?

Well, now we have hundreds of thousands of Israeli refugees forced out of their homes again, this time by Iranian rockets. Some of them ended up in refugee camps - but these hastily constructed camps have nothing in common with the ones we hear so much about in the Middle East:

"Check her out, she's the most beautiful girl from northern Israel," Ilan Faktor says, practically swooning, his white teeth beaming from his tanned face. He's girl-hunting with his buddies, and the women are everywhere -- all in bikinis and most with long, curly hair. "The best part," Ilan says, "is that they can't run away."

Ilan and his buddies live in a crowded refugee camp set up on the beach in Ashkelon, Israel. All along the street, flags flap in the breeze from the sea. People here seem to love showing off their gym-toned bodies. Tents have been set up everywhere. In one, people practice yoga; next to it others are getting their bodies painted. In another tent Orthodox Jews try to recruit young people. One could easily mistake the place for a nightclub if it weren't for the fact that everyone here has been displaced by a war. Hordes of young people under 25 mill around wearing the same kind of colorful armbands you might see in a hip urban club.

Ilan isn't happy with the color of his armband -- the blue has already faded. Worse yet, blue means he's scheduled for the day's earliest meal-time. Organizers in fact adopted the idea of arm bands from night clubs; here, though, it's a way of arranging staggered mealtimes. In the end that's only difference between this camp at the Israeli beach resort of Ashkelon, just south of Tel Aviv, and an all-inclusive holiday resort.

Make no mistake, though -- it's no holiday resort. It's a refugee camp, in spite of the sun and the sound of waves pounding the beach. Everyone here has fled the rain of Hezbollah rockets that are showering northern Israel. First they came from Nahariya, then Carmiel and later from Haifa and Tiberias. In total, more than 2,600 have converged here. On Monday the camp was expanded, with new tents and toilets being set up on the white sand dunes right next to the sea.

Still, for those fleeing the north, there are worse places to land than Ashkelon. A Russian immigrant generously allowed the camp to be set up on his property; he hired Ilan Faktor to help run it. Normally Faktor works as a rave promoter, and he's brought a lot of those ideas along with him. Live bands play each night, and during the daytime, the thumping base of techno music can be heard along the beach. On Friday, the stars of Israel's "Pop Idol" stopped by. "We have to keep the people entertained," says Faktor.

Now as before all of this was done without a single penny of aid from the UN or the EU, without whining to the world about how horrible life is, and without insisting on handouts and resolutions.

We hear so much about the famed "Arab hospitality" and yet Palestinian Arabs have been rotting in "refugee camps" for decades in their hospitable host countries of Egypt and Syria and Lebanon, not to mention Gaza and the West Bank. What Israel accomplishes in two weeks is completely beyond the abilities of these Arabs, it seems.

Nasrallah thinks he is hurting Israeli morale, but he has no concept of the meaning of the word. He defines morale as the ability to kill and terrorize others, but morale is keeping one's spirits up in times of trouble - and it is something he and his thugs are utterly incapable of.

Once again, one side proves that they are all about creativity and happiness and the other side is all about destruction and inflicting pain. Israelis can rightly feel proud at how they react in the face of terror.

No running to the UN...No whining for refugee status...No begging the EU for help taking care of a genocidal humanitarian crisis...No claiming victimhood...No display of gory dead and wounded people...No militant children parading around as suicide bombers...No screaming for vengeance...Always accepting responsibility for ourselves, even when hardships are caused by others...Not even asking to be loved...Just to be left to mind our own lives...Only asking to live in peace.

al-Zawahri wants some of this action! It's an insult to see these small-time Shi'ites grabbing the headlines!

As if to emphasize the point, his little al-Jazeera exclusive interview showed him in front of a picture of the burning World Trade Center.

Apparently, all terrorists never got over their teen years, as they preen and try to prove their masculinity by who can kill the most infidels. And it is not hard to imagine what deficiencies they may have that they are trying to compensate for.

Thanks to all who helped contribute to the Elder Tzedakah Challenge. If you didn't do it yet, all you have to do is click on one of the charities listed on the sidebar, or one of the others listed in this posting, give money, let me know about it by sending me a receipt (after you remove your personal information) to elderchallenge -at- gmail.com and I will match that amount to the same charity.

Boruch Hashem we have raised over $800 since last Friday and I want to get to at least $1000 by tomorrow. Every little bit helps so give today to the charity of your choice!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

I just finished talking to an old friend of mine back in Lebanon. He is shia from Tyre and as long as I can remember, he has always been sympathetic with HA. I always related this sympathy to the fact that he was in a HA elementary school.

Our brief discussion quickly turned into him "lecturing" me about the importance of not being swayed by the propaganda and aligning my position with HA since, due to the lack of choice, I was born a shia, "a 220" Volt (yes, in lebanon, the shia run on 220 volt AC power, unlike the rest of the population who run on 110 volts). The fact that I don't believe in God (a precursor to I don't believe in Shia, Sunni, Islam, Christianity, Judaism) never registered in his brain.

Anyways, after our blame game and my "disappointing" stance, my friend reverted to reminding me of the pictures of death and destruction that have befallen Lebanon due to the Israeli aggression. But after I questioned how someone (HA) that was there to (allegedly) protect us, ended up bringing all this destruction from "the enemy", and questioning what we gained from the destruction, his answer was brief and swift: "Honor"

So to my HA shiite friend, Honor is the vice that would make a community die, leave their homes, and starve. It's sad to see an entire community live and die by such a definition of Honor. It's even sadder to see an entire country being dragged into serving such Honor.

For some reason, AFP can't seem to mention that it was the Palestinian Arabs who created the civil war in Lebanon, or any of their rocket attacks against Israel, or anything else relevant. Let's fill in some of the missing pieces and try to see why AFP chose the events they did, and chose to ignore the events they did: (Most of these are from CNN.)

November 1969: Lebanese army commander in chief Emile Bustani and Arafat sign an agreement in Cairo that recognizes the "Palestinian revolution" and allows Palestinians in Lebanon "to join in the armed struggle without undermining Lebanon's sovereignty and welfare." This agreement will stay in effect for nearly 20 years, until Lebanon rescinds it in May 1987.

1970-1971: Faced with fighting in Jordan that left thousands dead, the PLO moves its base to Lebanon, where it carries out raids on Israel. A Palestinian terrorist group linked to the PLO is formed. Its name is "Black September" -- a reference to the Jordanian crackdown on Palestinians in September 1970.

1975: Civil war breaks out in Lebanon, pitting Palestinians and pro-Palestinian Lebanese militias against Lebanon's Christian militias. The war would last nearly 15 years, officially ending in 1990.

1976: Syria sends military peacekeepers during the early months of the civil war to help end it. The troops would remain there nearly 30 years, until April 2005.

March 1978: A PLO attack on a bus in northern Israel prompts Israeli military forces to move into Lebanon to push the PLO back from the border. Israel withdraws after the U.N. Security Council passes a resolution for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces. Under the leadership of Lebanese army Maj. Saad Haddad, an Israeli ally, a 12-mile wide "security zone" is established to protect Israeli territory from cross-border attacks.

May 17, 1983: Lebanon and Israel sign a U.S.-brokered peace agreement, spelling out terms of Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, conditional on the withdrawal of Syrian forces. Syria opposes the agreement.

October 23, 1983: A Hezbollah suicide bomber blows up the headquarters of U.S. Marine and French forces in Beirut, killing 298 people -- 241 of them U.S. Marines and other military personnel. U.S. troops are withdrawn from Lebanon a few months later.

January 18, 1984: American University of Beirut President Malcolm Kerr is assassinated.

March 1984: With pressure mounting from Syria, Lebanon cancels the May 17, 1983, peace agreement.

September 20, 1984: The U.S. Embassy annex in East Beirut is bombed, and 23 people are killed.

June 1985: Israel withdraws from most of Lebanon but keeps control of the 12-mile-wide security zone in the south. Israel remains there until May 2000.

July 2006: Hezbollah militants cross into Israel, kill three Israeli soldiers and kidnap two others in a bid to negotiate a prisoner exchange, a demand rebuffed by Israel. Another five Israeli soldiers are killed after the ambush.

So, can the astute reader find any pattern whatsoever in the AFP's choices for its timeline? Why the PLO is not mentioned, nor Hezbollah? Why the only times Palestinian Arabs are mentioned are for Sabra and Shatila (with the AFP inflating the likely figures)? Why the only protaganist mentioned is Israel?

It goes on the print a letter from the mosque's imam, condemning Israel's attacks and not saying a single word about "terror", "rockets" or "Hezbollah." It is also interesting that they accept direct wire transfers - the same methods that Hezbollah terrorists use to transfer money.

Since Dearborn is the US center of Hezbollah supporters, with its local Arab newspaper printing articles that lionize terrorists, where a local Muslim "cultural center" is named after the "capital" of Hezbollah in Lebanon, it is a safe bet that not all of the money raised is going to food and shelter.

Kudos to Anderson Cooper for telling the truth as he was showing Hezbollah-chosen sites for the news:

As the video showed a group reporters and photographers interviewing a single woman on a blanket, Cooper explained, “Civilian casualties are clearly what Hezbollah wants foreign reporters to focus on. It keeps the attention off them — and questions about why Hezbollah should still be allowed to have weapons when all the other militias in Lebanon have already disarmed.

“After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting.

“This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about.

“These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.”

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

I blogged last month about my theory that some of the $20 million that Zahar's "fundraising tour" raised may have in fact been counterfeit US currency. I had no evidence besides the fact that pristine $100 bills are not found in large quantities in the countries he visited.

Now, NBC news accidentally seems to have found another source for mint-condition US currency in the Middle East: (video from LGF, story from OpinionJournal):

A reader noticed something curious in a video from last night’s “NBC Nightly News.” Richard Engel, the network’s Beirut bureau chief, is reporting from southern Lebanon, and at 1:07 in the video, as he’s saying, “In Sidon, we found part of the financial district flattened,” you briefly see an image of what look like uncut sheets of U.S. hundred-dollar bills.

Now, it’s possible to buy uncut sheets from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, at premiums ranging from 12.5% to 275% over face value—but apparently only in denominations of up to $50. Anyhow, somehow we doubt these were collectibles.

A Treasury Department press release dated June 10, 2004, reports that Hezbollah has been involved in counterfeiting American money:

One of the most prominent and influential members of the Hizballah terrorist organization, along with two of his companies, was designated by the Treasury Department today under Executive Order 13224. Assad Ahmad Barakat has close ties with Hizballah leadership and has worked closely with numerous Islamic extremists and suspected Hizballah associates in South America’s tri-border area (TBA), made up of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. . . .

Barakat has also been involved in a counterfeiting ring that distributes fake U.S. dollars and generates cash to fund Hizballah operations. As of early 2001, Barakat was one of two individuals reportedly in charge of distribution and sale of the counterfeit currency in the TBA.

Was this funny money in Engel’s report from Sidon? We don’t know, but it’d be a good question for him to investigate.

It is a fair bet that much of the cash that made it to Gaza also originated in the "Sidon financial district."

UPDATE: An LGF reader pointed out that these look more like photocopies for the serial numbers rather than counterfeit currency.

A very good look into the mind of a depraved people can be found at kavkazcenter.com, a Chechen "news" website that is far enough away from the Middle East as to not be concerned about saying things that are politically correct. In other words, it is a rare unvarnished look at Islamic depravity in English (although much of the news comes from an Iranian "news" agency.)

For example, here's a bit of wishful thinking about the number of innocent civilians murdered in Haifa:

Hezbollah Rockets Kill Dozens of Zionists in Haifa, Scores WoundedIn retaliation to the unabated brutalities of the illegal Zionist entity, a rocket barrage by the Hezbollah defenders of Lebanon on Haifa in the northern part of the usurper state of "Israel" reportedly killed two Zionists and wounded 14 others on Sunday.

The actual fatality of Sunday's defensive missile barrage on Haifa is, however, believed to be in several dozens including the wounded. Because of tight censorship by Israel the exact casualty figures in the Zionist entity has been ignored by the Western media.

In retaliation to the unabated atrocities of the Zionist entity against the civilians of Lebanon, the Hezbollah movement fired a barrage of 170 missiles on Sunday on mostly military and industrial sites in the northern part of Occupied Palestine inflicting considerable damage and resulting in the death of over 40 Zionists and injury to over 90 others.

It's hard not to see the pride that the Islamists feel at the mythical murder of dozens of civilians, even though in the next breath they castigate Israel for doing exactly that.

The amount of time they spend trying to spin shooting rockets into Haifa as "defensive" is pretty funny, too.

If you watched yesterday’s Andrew Marr programme on BBC1, you would have seen a British TV landmark. To judge from its contents, the programme was the first to have been edited by the leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

Most of it was, rightly, given over to the events in the Middle East. But of the four guests interviewed, not one had anything but bile to pour over Israel. Up first was Glenys Kinnock MEP, remarking how “heartening” it is that the Middle East minister, Kim Howells, has begun “a shifting of ground away from defence of Israel”. Alongside her was Matthew Parris, who repeated the hostile views he has already made clear to Times readers. A Lebanese minister followed. Then Sir Menzies Campbell, a man whose entire career has been spent attacking Israeli policy, whatever it happens to be.

All were treated with deference by Andrew Marr, as he invited them to honour us with their sagacity.

Not that we should be surprised. The BBC’s coverage has been overwhelmingly one-sided, with presenters and reporters editorialising against what they universally refer to as “Israeli attacks on Lebanon”.

Right at the beginning it was clear how the BBC would cover the operation, when a film on Newsnight concluded with the reporter, Peter Marshall, remarking across a picture of a blown-up bridge: “All this destruction. And still more threatened” — as if the Israelis are on some kind of wilful destruction spree, dropping bombs for the sheer hell of it, rather than taking action to destroy Hezbollah’s capacity to murder any more Israelis.

On Saturday the BBC’s website helpfully carried full details of the assembly points for that day’s anti-Israel march. Nowhere did it give the same detail for yesterday’s rally in support of Israel.

Monday, July 24, 2006

A Palestinian boy stands on the rubble of his apartment destroyed overnight by Israeli air attack in Gaza City. The US government views the conflict in Lebanon through the "war on terror" context, ignoring any nationalist goals of Hezbollah and Hamas, which could re-emerge strengthened by the crisis.(AFP/Hrvoje Polan)

But the second sentence is astonishing. Hezbollah sends thousands of rockets towards civilians in Israel and AFP is castigating the US for not seeing the big picture, that Hezbollah only wants a state - that just happens to be in exactly the same place that Israel is?

The US has consistently called for a two-state solution, so to say that it ignores "nationalist goals" of terror groups means that AFP supports the destruction of Israel.

Because those are the nationalist goals of Hamas and Hezbollah.And the comment that the terror groups "could re-emerge strengthened by the crisis" sounds like nothing less than wishful thinking.

After reading this article, I can't help but think that the Hizbollah attacks against Israel is doing to the Israeli Left what 9/11 did to the American Left - make them look like fools.

In every other terror attack the Israeli Left (which is as wacky as anything the Americans or Europeans can come up with) would always find some reason to justify the attack - and almost always it was the magic word "occupation," the mantra that could be repeated over and over without any thought, the reason to end all reasons. The poor Palestinian Arabs who had to live under such brutal conditions lost their very free will - they had no choice but to enter ice cream shops and pizza parlors and blow themselves up!

The argument is idiotic but that's not the point - it was an accepted fact among the Left and it neatly justified any level of depravity the Palestinian Arabs could come up with. I often thought that if they would turn their own children into human Molotov Cocktails, tossing them at Israeli civilians, the Left would still write articles about how the "occupation" is so horrendous that they had no choice.

The Right would point out that radical Islam aims to take over the world, that it is not occupation that rankles Arabs as much as the very existence of Israel, that ordinary Arabs fared far better under the "occupation" than they ever did under Arab rule - and would be dismissed as crackpots, lacking in nuance.

In the wake of 9/11 there was born a new generation of "9/11 Republicans" - people who are still liberal on topics such as abortion and women's rights and other social issues, but who became hawkish when it came down to defending the lives of Americans. They realized that no American policy brought about 9/11, but the responsibility belongs wholly to the jihadists. They realized that in the end, people are responsible for their own actions and some people really are evil and malicious.

Now, the Left at large can be divided into two parts - those who actually think and those who embrace the movement out of ulterior motives, usually self-hate. A large percentage of the Left's thinkers broke ranks with the airhead, Vanity Fair-reading, Hollywood worshipping, vacuous twits who blame America for every perceived evil in the world and congratulate themselves on having the guts to criticize America in a free society.

It very well may be that Hizbollah's attacks on Israel, without the fig leaf of "occupation" as a motive, is doing the very same to Israel's Left. Here Israel played by the liberal playbook to the letter - withdrawing from Lebanon, behind UN-drawn lines. By the rules of the game written by the Left themselves, that should have been that - Hizbollah would become a gardening club and Lebanon will be able to build a strong state. The Left was convinced that Hizbollah had no more motive to attack Israel, and the Hizbollah charter that calls for Israel to be destroyed is just so much exaggerated rhetoric that the cute Arabs like to engage in, a cute cultural habit like bargaining at the souk.

The current terror war shows that such thinking was not just naive, but it was deadly. And as a result, Israel may see the same kind of schism that the US sees - a fringe, unrepentant Left who gets more and more loony and deluded, and a new center-right that just woke up and will be re-examining the wisdom of surrendering land when the vacumms created are invariably filled with the most foul, immoral terrorists that exist.

There is some coverage of the demonstration for Israel - in British news sources and in Israel. Very few other sources could be found.

But the coverage of the pro-terror, pro-Hizbollah rallies in London are plentiful - almost invariably called "peace" rallies. For example, a few paragraphs into this Australian news story "Global protests held for peace" comes this telling detail:

"Stop the killing, stop to the bombs. Israel out of Lebanon," shouted the peaceful protesters, many draped in Lebanese or Palestinian flags, while others yelled: "Hizbollah is here to stay. Zionism go away."

Calling that a "peace" rally is something only news editors can do with a straight face.

These are in addition to the five charities I listed before that you can see on the sidebar. Go to their websites, give generously, and email me at elderchallenge-at-gmail.com and I will match it until we hit our limit (currently $1000.)

The great Yogi Berra once said, "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."

I am not a columnist - just an ordinary American citizen living in Israel - but I have gained some insight into both cultures, some might say mentalities. Here is what many Israelis are feeling nowadays.

The first point concerns some unwritten American values I grew up with:

* Problems are solvable. * Good will is returned in kind. * In general, favor the underdog over the top dog (unless you're the top dog). * If two sides are fighting, they must both have some justification. * Be reasonable; split the difference.

But what if you are living in a neighborhood where they are not quite as reasonable as you? Where your attempts to reason and split the difference backfire? Or worse, where concession is laughed at as weakness.

The second point concerns Israel in particular. We are 6.6 million people, toughened but pragmatic. At 8,020 square miles, we have an area 25% smaller than Maryland. The difference is that, unlike America's vast power, with oceans and peaceful neighbors on all sides, the Jewish state is surrounded on several sides with people who actually want to kill us. Not subdue us - destroy our country.

It would be convenient to think that this must be because of something we did. But Hamas and Hezbollah say it out loud and crystal clear. The "occupation" is the whole works. Their final solution is the total destruction of Israel. Iran, a member state of the UN, holds conferences called "A World Without Israel."

This is the backdrop against which most civilized countries would have us turn the other cheek. As social writer Eric Hoffer once said, "We really do expect the Jews to be the only good Christians in the world."

To put things in perspective, imagine, if you can, that Arlington lobbed 1,000 shells at Georgetown. Or sent suicide bombers. How exactly would you react? Imagine that Mexico was calling for the destruction of the United States, backing it up with cross-border raids and missiles.

The third point is that Israel already withdrew from every last inch of southern Lebanon and Gaza, as the international community demanded. But the provocations and terror - violence aimed intentionally against civilian targets - continued. This is why we entered this conflict. Enough is enough.

This is a horrible situation to be in, fighting Hezbollah behind its human shields. But before bombing southern Lebanon and the Hezbollah neighborhoods of Beirut, Israel dropped leaflets encouraging evacuation. Confronted with terrible choices, we are trying to fight while minimizing civilian casualties.

It was wishful thinking to hope that joining the government would make Hamas and Hezbollah more responsible. Sometimes putting the bully in charge of the playground works, and sometimes it doesn't.

The operative emotion in Israel right now is sadness, sadness for what is being done to us, sadness for what we must do to defend ourselves. The missiles shot at Haifa landed a few miles from the research labs of Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Google. Israelis would much rather continue working on desalination, stroke treatment, and alternative fuels (see www.israel21c.org). We would rather that our adversaries developed their own economies pragmatically.

We hate this conflict, but we will not commit suicide. As Golda Meir said, "We will have peace when our enemies love their children more than they hate ours."

My father was a survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was the most optimistic person I ever knew, but he once taught me, "Above all else, when someone threatens to kill you or your loved ones - just believe him!"

The lesson for America is simple. Do not hide from international responsibility. Do not assume the oceans offer protection. Iran is behind Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and, of course, the insurgents in Iraq. If Iran gets nuclear bombs, do you want to bet they won't sponsor a radical Islamic group to eradicate American cities?

You want to know what Israelis are thinking? Theory and practice are intertwined. We are on the front line, but we will show patience and strength. That's why 89% of Israelis, Left, Right and Center, support the army right now. A mere 61 years and 10 weeks after V-E day, we know that evil and blind hatred exist. And that they can be beaten.

-- Bob Rosenschein is CEO of Answers.com (NASD:ANSW); he can be reached at rrosenschein at gmail.com; this piece reflects his own views

Saturday, July 22, 2006

The Meron A-Ras area of southern Lebanon has been taken by IDF ground troops. The Hizbullah bunkers in, around and below the village have all been raided and the IDF has now stationed troops in the village. Security forces in the area report scores of Katyusha shells, missile storage areas and missile-launchers, which were concealed in the village's mosque.

“We searched through the village carefully, we went house to house, and we found three sites where Hizbullah operatives had been hiding out. We could tell by the flak jackets, helmets, and even the cups of coffee still sitting on the table – but the Hizbullah men apparently fled when we entered. We also found a lot of ammunitions, including weapons, Lau rocket launchers in the yard of a mosque, binoculars, and various rockets,” said battalion commander Lt. Col. Wajadee.

Wajadee said the terrorists used sites in the village to survey and collect information on Israeli communities across the border. An 80-year-old Lebanese man, who remained nearly alone in the town, told soldiers that residents did not cooperate with Hizbullah, but Hizbullah forced themselves on the village and used the residents in operations against Israel.

Just waiting for the massive worldwide Muslim protests in Pakistan and Indonesia that people actually use mosques for storing deadly weapons.

Just waiting for the freedom-loving protesters in Canada and Europe to show outrage over Hezbollah taking an entire town hostage.

I'm sure the protests are being organized right now. Any minute we will be seeing lots of photos and news coverage. Right?

Friday, July 21, 2006

I only received one reply to my Tzedakah Challenge, so my ego from the thousands of page hits I got in the past ten days has been properly deflated.

Nevertheless, I am serious about wanting to match $1000 in contributions given to the Israeli charities listed by any readers. Other bloggers, feel free to repost the modified posting below:-----------------------------------------

Between now and July 28, for any money that you donate to one of the Israeli charities listed below, I will match it, up until we get to a total of $1000.

After you donate, copy your receipt and email it to elderchallenge-at-gmail.com (you should XXX out the credit card number.) Or we can use the honor system if you are paranoid; just let me know. Afterwards, I will match your contributions to the charity or charities you chose. I will try to keep updated blog entries throughout the week showing a running total.

The sickening face of the mass-murderer Nasrallah is popping up all over the world. He has no shortage of people who love him and his genocidal plans.

In Berlin...Pakistan...Switzerland...Ramallah....Iraq....Syria...Tehran...Bahrain...Caracas....Sudan...Egypt....San Francisco seemed to avoid showing pictures of Nasrallah, but their sentiments were clear as well...

But sometimes I don't mind seeing his picture. Like this one, found in the ruins of a building in Beirut hit by Israeli warplanes:

As the UN and the EU call for international peacekeepers in Lebanon, a simple fact seem to have been forgotten:

They are already there.

Since 1978, the UN has had UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) set up. And since 1978, they have not lifted a single finger to stop rocket attacks towards Israel.

Since then, they have not lifted a finger to stop Hizbollah from building a full army under their noses.

Since then, they have not lifted a finger when Hizbollah built military posts right next to UNIFIL posts.

Since then, they have been sipping tea with Hizbollah, they witnessed the fatal kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in 2000 and refused to even help in the investigation, and they have failed miserably to live up to their mandate:

* Confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon;* Restore international peace and security;* Assist the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area.

In other words, they have been firm supporters of the terrorist Hizbollah organization and firm enemies of Israel (as well as Lebanon.) But Lebanon found them useful as well, because as long as they were in Southern Lebanon the Lebanese army could pretend that Hizbollah was not their problem.

Combine this with the fact that the UN refuses to declare Hizbollah a terrorist organization (perhaps they are a origami club?) and you have a completely immoral organization lecturing Israel about morality.

The U.N.'s years-long record on the Israel-Lebanon border makes mockery of the term "peacekeeping." On page 155 of my book, "Inside the Asylum," is a picture of a U.N. outpost on that border. The U.N. flag and the Hezbollah flag fly side by side. Observers told me the U.N. and Hezbollah personnel share water and telephones, and that the U.N. presence serves as a shield against Israeli strikes against the terrorists.

This picture is all you need to know about the utterly sickening moral posture at the UN.

Once again Israel is expected to do what the civilized world tries so hard to avoid - tackle terror head-on.

Once again Israel will be the first to take on a new kind of warfare:

Where every single battle is a potential ambush

Where there is no front line

Where the enemy ignores the rules of war, but the army must adhere to them

Where the enemy maintains the legal fiction of not being an organized national army yet is fully supported and directed by sovereign nations

Where one side is unquestioningly doing the right thing but does not have the support of the world to actually win decisively

The lessons learned from this battle will translate to thousand of lives saved in future battles against Islamic terror, as the hypocrites from Europe act dismayed at Israeli actions yet they will eagerly study their methods.

Once again, Israel must do the right thing even while being criticized by the very people who will benefit most from this war. Secretly there is rejoicing in the European world capitals but publicly they must adhere to their dhimmified Eurabian worldview out of fear of the same terror that Israel must face daily.

Once again, Israeli blood is being shed so that the world will do a better job when the real Islamist world war starts.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Between now and Shabbos/Shabbat, for any money that you donate to one of the Israeli charities listed below, I will match it, up until we get to a total of $1000.

After you donate, copy your receipt and email it to elderchallenge-at-gmail.com . After Shabbos I will match your contributions to the charity or charities you chose. I will try to keep updated blog entries throughout the day showing a running total.

You can donate up until Shabbat in your time zone.

I also challenge other bloggers to make similar matching challenges to their readers. We're here in the blogosphere and people are reading - let's get the lurkers involved!

French children's magazine Youpi published this in its latest edition. The translation is "We call these 197 countries state...

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون

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